Financial Crime - Long Reads, News, Articles & Research: Finextra

New ways of customer authentication in payments

Customer authentication has a become a staple in security processes for payments as a way for the platform to verify a consumer's identity and ensure the transaction is approved and secure. While there are a range of digital authentication processes, a common use case among banks is two-factor authentication which verifies the user’s identity at t...

26 June 2023 /crime

Fraud prevention and cybersecurity in the era of PaaS

Sehrish Alikhan Reporter at Finextra

Fraud prevention and cybersecurity in the era of PaaS

Payments-as-a-Service (PaaS) providers operate on cloud-based platforms and offer services such as card issuance, cross-border transactions, and e-commerce gateways. PaaS platforms have disrupted the financial industry as non-bank competitors and fintech startups that are offering personalised and innovative products to consumers. This is an excer...

23 June 2023 /crime

The tip of the iceberg: Assessing the CFTC’s lawsuit against Binance

Arvin Abraham Partner at Goodwin Procter

The tip of the iceberg: Assessing the CFTC’s lawsuit against Binance

On 27 March 2023, the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) filed a lawsuit against Binance in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Binance, as of the time of writing, remains the world’s largest crypto exchange by a large margin. Binance’s international exchange dwarfs its closest rivals having more than...

26 April 2023 /crime

FinCrime outlook 2023: ChatGPT, deepfakes and the same old scams

Níamh Curran Senior Reporter at Finextra

FinCrime outlook 2023: ChatGPT, deepfakes and the same old scams

2022 saw a number of scams hit the top of Finextra’s headlines. Research found that 8% of consumers were ignoring confirmation of payee warnings and celebrities like Joe Lycett even waded in on the issues,. As the cost-of-living crisis continues to make people feel more financially vulnerable, the importance of education around scams and fraud i...

23 January 2023 /crime

Netflix’s Skandal! Bringing Down Wirecard and the fintech that deceived us all

Sehrish Alikhan Reporter at Finextra

Netflix’s Skandal! Bringing Down Wirecard and the fintech that deceived us all

One of the largest event’s to shake the fintech world over the past few years was the collapse of the German fintech, Wirecard. Earlier this year, Netflix released a documentary titled Skandal! Bringing Down Wirecard, which follows the fintech’s infamous and controversial downfall. The documentary is based on the book by Dan McCrum, a Financial Tim...

05 December 2022 /crime

Fraud monitoring strategies and the role of global scoring data

Finextra Research Writer at Finextra

Fraud monitoring strategies and the role of global scoring data

This is an extract from the Finextra Research and Mastercard report ‘Seeking Approval - Acquirers Vs. Transaction Fraud’, based on industry interviews that explore the industry’s appetite for real-time, AI-driven, data-rich transaction fraud monitoring and the various models, technology and priorities that shape their strategies. In order to effec...

31 October 2022 /crime

Tech and Crime Series: Cryptoassets and financial crime Part II

Thomas Cattee Solicitor at Gherson

Tech and Crime Series: Cryptoassets and financial crime Part II

This article follows a 7 April 2021 article titled: Tech and Crime Series: Cryptoassets and financial crime Part I. On 1 June 2022, the US Department of Justice (DoJ) announced that a former employee of a non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace, OpenSea, had been charged in the first ever digital asset insider trading scheme. As the associated press ...

06 July 2022 /crime

Financial services businesses must stop putting Customer Due Diligence on the backburner

Simon Mansell UK forensic head of Customer Due Diligence at KPMG

Financial services businesses must stop putting Customer Due Diligence on the backburner

Financial crime challenges even the most diligent of organisations. During the Covid-19 pandemic, fraud proliferated in the UK, with professional criminals targeting the public amid Covid-19 disruption to the tune of £37 million in 2021, up 80% from £20.5 million in the same period in 2020. Professional and financial services firms have an obliga...

15 March 2022 /crime

Five behaviours that indicate a social engineering scam

Níamh Curran Senior Reporter at Finextra

Five behaviours that indicate a social engineering scam

Social engineering and authorised push payment (APP) scams have been on the rise. For banks this creates a litany of problems, including compromising customer trust, difficulty navigating repayment schemes, and the changing nature of these attacks. The number of people falling victim to these scams rose during the pandemic, with UK Finance finding ...

17 September 2021 /crime

The future of payments: New assets - new security challenges

Hamish Monk Reporter at Finextra

The future of payments: New assets - new security challenges

By some, blockchain technology is considered a strong means of combatting rising cases of chargebacks, which come hand-in-hand with financial fraud. Indeed, it can be extremely difficult for fraudsters to extract customers’ information from a blockchain system, since it is decentralised, and distributed across a network of computers that form digit...

28 June 2021 /crime

Leveraging fraud and risk data to enhance customer experience

Hamish Monk Reporter at Finextra

Leveraging fraud and risk data to enhance customer experience

In the wake of the widespread shift to digital banking and commerce caused by national lockdowns due to the Covid-19 pandemic, fraud teams have seen a sharp increase in cybercrime. This has been an upward trend for some time. Since 2011, financial crime has more than tripled, to $32 billion in 2020. By 2027, it is expected to exceed $40 billion by...

16 June 2021 /crime

Tech and Crime Series: Has the FCA bitten off more than it can chew with its NatWest Prosecution?

Thomas Cattee Solicitor at Gherson

Tech and Crime Series: Has the FCA bitten off more than it can chew with its NatWest Prosecution?

News broke on Tuesday 16 March 2021 that the Financial Conduct Authority (the “FCA”) has started criminal proceedings against NatWest Bank (“NatWest”) for alleged offences relating to the adequacy of procedures in place to prevent money laundering. These proceedings are in respect of offences under the Money Laundering Regulations 2007 (the “200...

13 April 2021 /crime

Long reads